Dr. Tom Catena checks on a patient at a hospital in Sudan. The Amsterdam native was named by Time magazine in April as one of the 100 most

Dr. Tom Catena checks on a patient at a hospital in Sudan. The Amsterdam native was named by Time magazine in April as one of the 100 most

Image 2 of 4

Dr. Tom Catena checks on a patient at a hospital in Sudan. The Amsterdam native was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in April. (Courtesy Dr. Tom Catena)

Dr. Tom Catena checks on a patient at a hospital in Sudan. The Amsterdam native was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in April. (Courtesy Dr. Tom Catena)

Image 3 of 4

Dr. Tom Catena checks on a patient at a hospital in Sudan. The Amsterdam native was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in April. (Courtesy Dr. Tom Catena)

Dr. Tom Catena checks on a patient at a hospital in Sudan. The Amsterdam native was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in April. (Courtesy Dr. Tom Catena)

Image 4 of 4

Amsterdam native one of four finalists for global humanitarian award

1 / 4

Back to Gallery

An Amsterdam native is one of four people worldwide being considered for a new award recognizing exceptional humanitarian efforts.

Dr. Tom Catena, the sole doctor at a hospital serving at least a half-million people in the rebel-held Nuba Mountains of Sudan, is a finalist for the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. The prize is a project of 100 Lives, which celebrates people who helped the needy during the Armenian Genocide a century ago.

The winner, to be announced in Armenia on Sunday, will receive $100,000 and the opportunity to direct $1 million in donations to organizations that he or she nominates. The selection committee for the prize includes Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and actor and humanitarian George Clooney.

"This is the inaugural Aurora prize so I feel especially honored to be considered among the four finalists," Catena said by email this week. "My hope is that the award is able to shed some light on the plight of the Nuba people as the indiscriminate bombing and shelling of civilians continues."

More Information

How to help

Donations for Dr. Tom Catena's work can be sent to the African Mission Healthcare Foundation: http://www.amhf.us/

He will not leave Sudan to attend Sunday's ceremony, but will be represented by his niece, Michela, daughter of Montgomery County Judge Felix Catena.

Catena discussed his work at Mother of Mercy Hospital in an interview with the Times Union a year ago, conducted through the video messaging service Skype.

He described the people he treats in the midst of a military conflict that has raged since 2011. That's when the Republic of South Sudan was formed, following a 2005 peace agreement that ended a decades-old civil war. Though many Nuba people identified with South Sudan, they were not allowed to join with the new nation. Fighting began anew between the region's rebels and the Khartoum government.

In any given week, Catena treats people with malaria, tuberculosis, pneumonia and leprosy. Soldiers arrive with battle wounds, and villagers with injuries from government bombing. On the day of the interview, Catena recalled a 10-year-old child who stepped on a land mine a week before and died before getting to the hospital.

"By far, the hardest part is losing a patient, especially a child," Catena said.

Catena lives at the hospital and is on-call 24/7. He works with a staff of about 60 people, including nurses, pharmacists, and lab and operating room staff. Only a handful received formal schooling. The others have been trained on the job.

Humanitarian organizations and volunteers are not allowed in the rebel-held territory where he works. According to the Aurora Prize website, the Catholic organization that sponsored Catena wanted him to return to the United States when the current conflict started, but Catena insisted on staying.

Catena has worked in Africa more than 15 years, and in the Nuba region since 2008. His efforts have gained wide recognition in recent years. He was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2015. Filmmaker Andrew Berends, whose movie "Madina's Dream" is about the Sudan war, described meeting the 51-year-old doctor as "the closest I have come to meeting a saint" in his write-up for Time magazine. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's piece about him in June was headlined "'He's Jesus Christ.'"

A documentary about Catena, directed by his Brown University classmate Kenneth Carlson, with Maria Shriver as the executive producer, is to premiere at Brown's commencement May 29, when Catena will be awarded an honorary degree.

In his interview a year ago, Catena said he shuns the spotlight except for the chance it gives him to discuss the injustices he sees. Because they work through governments, official international organizations like the United Nations do not get any medications, even vaccinations, to the people he serves.

Other finalists for the Aurora Prize are Marguerite Barankitse, who has cared for orphans and refugees during the civil war in Burundi; Syeda Ghulam Fatima, who has worked to eradicate bonded labor, a modern form of slavery, in Pakistan; and the Rev. Bernard Kinvi, whose Catholic mission has saved hundreds from persecution and death during civil war in Central African Republic.